On the latest ‘sum of the parts’ valuation this group’s has a ‘fair value’ of some 35.5p a share, which is a staggering 150% over the company’s current market price of just 14.25p.
They offer substantial upside at around these levels, while combining the exciting prospects of being involved in the mining sector.
Getting involved in the discovery and development of mineral resources for a sustainable future – that is what Cadence Minerals (LON:KDNC) is all about.
Identifying undervalued assets, giving the group the ability to invest and aid the further growth in those assets, is the base of its corporate strategy.
Recent developments have helped to substantially increase the potential of two of the group’s asset positions, while adding to the overall corporate valuation.
In fact, one of the situations, the Amapa Project, is currently being described as a ‘game changer’ for the group.
Corporate History
Incorporated way back in 2004 as Rare Earth Minerals, the London-based company changed its name to Cadence Minerals in March 2017.
The group’s principal business is to acquire a diverse portfolio of direct and indirect interests in exploration and producing rare earth minerals and/or metals projects and assets.
It is an early-stage investment and development company within the mineral resource sector and is listed as an investment company on both the LSE AIM market and on the Aquis Stock Exchange (AQSE:KDNC).
The Cadence board has a blend of mining, commodity investing, fund management and deal structuring knowledge and experience, that is supported by access to key marketing, political and industry contacts.
These resources are leveraged not only in its investment decisions but also in continuing support of its investments, whether it be increasing market awareness of an asset, or advising on product mix or a path to production.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer is Kiran Morzaria, who holds a B.Eng. from the Camborne School of Mines and an MBA (Finance). He has over 20 years’ experience in the mineral resource industry, working in both operational and management roles.
The first four years of his career were spent in exploration, mining and civil engineering, after which he was involved in the acquisition, recommissioning and eventual sale of the Vatukoula Gold Mine.
Group Investment Policy
The group’s investment policy follows both a ‘private equity’ and a ‘public equity’ approach and can be either on an active or passive basis.
Its private investments include mineral exploration and development projects, run either through joint venture companies or joint venture licenses, operated by the joint venture company with in-country partners who have the requisite knowledge and expertise to advance projects.
The company has taken an active part in the management and decision making of its investee companies, using legal agreements to provide negative control mechanisms to protect its investments.
The focus is to invest in mining companies that are significantly undervalued by the market and where there is substantial upside potential through exploration success and/or the development of a mining project towards commercial production.
Cadence’s goal is to assist management to rapidly develop the project up the value curve and deliver excellent returns on its investments.
Ultimately the aim is to make capital gains in the short to medium term.
Projects
The company is focused on creating a diverse portfolio of direct and indirect interests in Lithium, Iron Ore and Rare Earth Element deposits.
The company's projects include Cinovec Lithium, Amapa Iron Ore Mine, Sonora Lithium Project, and Yangibana rare earth project.
Amapa Iron Ore
Situated in northeast Brazil, Amapa is a large iron ore project, which as a mine was previously owned by Anglo American and generated significant profits.
After getting involved in the project, Cadence has diligently worked away at recapitalising the mine, re-establishing a footprint in the area, shipping some iron ore stockpile and getting an important study out into the feasibility of a ‘brownfield’ re-opening the mine.
That pre-feasibility study for the Amapá Iron Ore Project has now been completed, and its results have recently been announced.
Completion of the Amapa Ore Reserve Estimate supports a planned 16-year mine life.
Cadence acquired 30% of Amapa for approximately US$9.3m, while it also has an option to take that stake up to 49%.
The Pre-Feasibility Study, announced in early January 2023, reached a major milestone in the rehabilitation of the project, which is now predicted to produce 5.28m dry metric tonnes per annum (Mtpa), consisting of 4.36 Mtpa at 65.4% Fe and 0.92 Mtpa at 62% Fe concentrate. This important study gave the project a NPV of $949m.
As a matter of interest Anglo-American valued its 70% stake in Amapa at $462m.
Evergreen Lithium
In July 2022, Cadence sold its 31.5% stake in Lithium Technologies and Lithium Supplies to Evergreen.
The terms of the sale included an initial consideration of Aus$ 3.16m (£1.77m) in Evergreen shares, with a further Aus$ 6.63m (£3.72m) due in Evergreen equity on the achievement of certain performance milestones.
Evergreen is currently expecting a listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Yangibana Rare Earths
The Yangibana Project is located in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, approximately 250 km northeast of Carnarvon.
Cadence's 30% interest in tenements covers a small portion of the Yangibana rare earths project and potentially represents one year of the 16-year mine-life.
In June 2022, Cadence entered into a binding agreement to sell its working interests and tenements in Yangibana to Hastings Technology Metals (ASX: HAS) for Aus$9m (£5.1m), satisfied by the issue of 2.45m Hastings shares, representing 1.9% of its equity.
Sonora Lithium Project
Situated in the Sonora State in Northern Mexico, the Sonora Project holds one of the world’s larger lithium resources and benefits from being both high-grade and scalable.
The polylithionite mineralisation is hosted within shallow dipping sequences, outcropping on the surface.
The Project operator is Bacanora Minerals, with Cadence Minerals owning 30% of the Joint Venture.
European Metals
The group holds a 7.2% stake in the European Metals Holdings (LON:EMH), equity.
European Metals is an Australian-based mineral exploration and development company which is focused on advancing the Cinovec vertically integrated battery metals project in the Czech Republic.
Through its 49% owned Geomet interest, EMH controls the mineral exploration licenses over the Cinovec Lithium/Tin project.
It hosts the largest hard rock lithium resource in Europe, the fourth largest non-brine deposit in the world and a globally significant tin resource. The project is located approximately 100kms NW from Prague on the border with Germany, adjacent to a main road with two rail lines within approximately 10 kms of the deposit.
The project is situated in the heart of Europe with ready access to end-user car makers and companies involved in energy storage.
A 51% stake in Geomet is held by the CEZ Group, which is an established, integrated energy group with operations in a number of Central and South-eastern European countries and Turkey. CEZ's core business is the generation, distribution, trade in, and sales of electricity and heat, trade in and sales of natural gas, and coal extraction.
The CEZ Group has 33,000 employees and an annual revenue of approximately €7.24bn.
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